Tânia Ganho was born in Coimbra, in 1973, and starting writing at an early age. When she was 12, she won a national literary competition, "Ler Melhor para Viver Melhor", but it was only in 2005 that she decided to publish her first novel, "A Vida Sem Ti" ("Life Without You", Oficina do Livro), followed by "Cuba Libre" (Oficina do Livro, 2007), "A Lucidez do Amor" ("The War Wife", Porto Editora, 2010) , "A Mulher-Casa" ("La Femme-Maison", Porto Editora, 2012), and "Apneia" (Casa das Letras, 2020), a disturbing story about domestic violence and child abuse.

"Apneia" was semifinalist of the Oceanos Prize and finalist of the Bertrand Prize for Best Portuguese Novel of the Year. In 2021, Tânia Ganho won a six-month literary grant from the Ministry of Culture in order to write her next novel, set in Lisbon and in a wolf conservation centre.

In 2012, she won the Cidade de Araçatuba Brazilian Prize for best international short-story.

Tânia Ganho taught translation as guest lecturer at the University of Coimbra and has been working as a literary translator for the past two decades. She has translated authors such as Angela Davis, Maya Angelou, Amor Towles, Alice Walker, Leïla Slimani, Rachel Cusk, Chimamanda Adichie, David Lodge, Hervé Le Tellier, among many others.

She is regularly invited to participate in literary festivals and to give talks on translation and writing.

author photograph ©Luis Carvalhal